Manchester airport closed and flights diverted after bomb threat to Emirates jet
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On Tuesday night, Manchester airport put a stop to its flight activities as the police carried out a thorough investigation regarding a bomb threat made towards an Emirates flight that originated from Dubai. This airport is considered to be among the top three busiest airports in the UK.
The huge Airbus A380 aircraft of the airline arrived a bit tardy around 7:21 pm, following an uneventful journey from the central airport located in the United Arab Emirates.
Simultaneously, the police department of Greater Manchester was notified regarding an electronic message indicating the presence of a doubtful parcel aboard the aircraft.
According to a representative from the police, the airplane arrived at Manchester airport and has been detained for additional evaluation.
While the airplane was staying on the apron, the events happening at the airfield ceased – and three inbound flights were rerouted to nearby airports.
A plane from London Heathrow operated by British Airways and a flight from Palma de Mallorca operated by easyJet both changed course and landed in Liverpool.
The plane from Cyprus, operated by Jet2, had to change its route and land at the company's primary hub in Leeds Bradford.
The shutdown took 34 minutes. Afterward, a representative from the Greater Manchester Police stated: "Investigations and safety protocol have been finished, and no questionable articles have been discovered yet."
The travelers have currently exited the plane with additional officers present to address any inquiries and provide notable comfort.
At the moment, no one has been taken into custody.
As a result of the unfortunate event, the flight back to Dubai with the code EK20 departed later than planned by two and a half hours. It was anticipated that some of the roughly 500 passengers aboard would miss their connections at the Emirates hub.
A representative from Emirates stated that upon the arrival of flight EK19, there were extra security measures taken to conduct additional screening.
The announcement went on to say that the Emirates staff, both on board and on the ground, worked closely with the authorities. Once the officials gave the all-clear, the plane pulled up to the designated gate and passengers disembarked normally.
On Thursday, October 12th, a Kenya Airways plane travelling from Nairobi to London Heathrow had to be redirected to Stansted airport with the assistance of RAF Typhoon fighter planes because of a bomb threat that was made to the airline's main office. However, after searching the plane thoroughly, no questionable items were found.
